Two Treatises of Government

Often considered the foundation of political liberalism, John Locke's
Two Treatises of Government was first published anonymously in 1689, in the wake of England's Glorious Revolution. In The First Treatise of Government, Locke refutes the idea of divine monarchy, while The Second Treatise of Government articulates Locke's philosophy of government, which he based upon his theories of natural rights and the social contract.

The Wealth of Nations

The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy,
The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.

The Social Contract

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. In
The Social Contract, Rousseau explores the concept of freedom and the political structures that may enable people to acquire it. He argues that the sovereign power of a state lies not in any one ruler but in the will of the general population. Rousseau argues that the ideal state would be a direct democracy where executive decision making is carried out by citizens who meet in assembly, as they would in the ancient city-state of Athens.

On Liberty

First published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's
On Liberty is an exhaustive exploration of social and civic liberty, its limits, and its consequences. Mill's work is a classic of political liberalism that contains a rational justification of the freedom of the individual in opposition to the claims of the state.

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

What are the most valuable things that everyone should know? Acclaimed clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson has influenced the modern understanding of personality, and now he has become one of the world's most popular public thinkers. In this book, he provides 12 profound and practical principles for how to live a meaningful life, from setting your house in order before criticising others to comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, not someone else today.

The Ethics of Aristotle

In this 12-lecture meditation on Aristotle's
Nicomachean Ethics, you'll uncover the clarity and ethical wisdom of one of humanity's greatest minds. Father Koterski shows how and why this great philosopher can help you deepen and improve your own thinking on questions of morality and leading the best life. The aim of these lectures is to provide you with a clear and thoughtful introduction to Aristotle as a moral philosopher.

Histories

In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.

Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals

First published in 1971,
Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know "the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one."

Utopia

Utopia is the name given by Sir Thomas More to an imaginary island in this political work written in 1516. Book I of Utopia, a dialogue, presents a perceptive analysis of contemporary social, economic, and moral ills in England. Book II is a narrative describing a country run according to the ideals of the English humanists, where poverty, crime, injustice, and other ills do not exist.

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution

Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.

Politics

Aristotle's
Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of Aristotle’s
Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the philosophy of human affairs. Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory.

A Treatise of Human Nature

A Treatise of Human Nature is the first work ever published by David Hume, a man who revolutionized our understanding of philosophy. Hume was an advocate of the skeptical school of philosophy and a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He looks at the nature of human experience and cognition, showing that philosophy and reason can only be reflections of our nature.

Beyond Good and Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche's
Beyond Good and Evil, first published in 1886, presents a scathing critique of traditional morality and attacks previous philosophers for their blind acceptance of Christian ideals of virtue. As an alternative to what he viewed as the illogical and irrelevant philosophy of the nineteenth century, Nietzsche argues for the importance of imagination, self-assertion, danger, and originality for genuine philosophy.

World Order: Reflections on the Character of Nations and the Course of History

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of
World Order by Henry Kissinger, read by Nicholas Hormann.
World Order is the summation of Henry Kissinger's thinking about history, strategy and statecraft. As if taking a perspective from far above the globe, it examines the great tectonic plates of history and the motivations of nations, explaining the attitudes that states and empires have taken to the rest of the world from the formation of Europe to our own times.

Beyond Good and Evil

Continuing where
Thus Spoke Zarathustra left off, Nietzsche's controversial work
Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most influential philosophical texts of the 19th century and one of the most controversial works of ideology ever written. Attacking the notion of morality as nothing more than institutionalised weakness, Nietzsche criticises past philosophers for their unquestioning acceptance of moral precepts. Nietzsche tried to formulate what he called "the philosophy of the future".

Reflections on the Revolution in France

This famous treatise began as a letter to a young French friend who asked Edmund Burke’s opinion on whether France’s new ruling class would succeed in creating a better order. Doubtless the friend expected a favorable reply, but Burke was suspicious of certain tendencies of the Revolution from the start and perceived that the revolutionaries were actually subverting the true "social order". Blending history with principle and graceful imagery with profound practical maxims, this book is one of the most influential political treatises in the history of the world.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is one of the most extraordinary - and important - texts in Western philosophy. It was written by Friedrich Nietzsche between 1883 and 1885. He cast it in the form of a novel in the hope that his urgent message of the 'death of God' and the rise of the superman (Ubermensch) would have greater emotional as well as intellectual impact.

Two Treatises of Government

Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy that outlined a concept foreign to the American people who, at the time, were still under English monarchy. This concept is what we now call democracy and advocated for a system in which all people were afforded rights to freedom and property ownership. The book was intended to push forward the ideas on contract theory and natural rights. Thomas Jefferson borrowed many of the ideas of
Two Treatises of Government while writing the Declaration of Independence.

Anarchy, State, and Utopia: Second Edition

Translated into 100 languages, winner of the National Book Award, and named one of the 100 Most Influential Books since World War II by the
Times Literary Supplement,
Anarchy, State, and Utopia remains one of the most theoretically trenchant and philosophically rich defenses of economic liberalism to date as well as a foundational text in classical libertarian thought. With a new introduction by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, this revised edition will introduce Nozick and his work to a new generation of listeners.

Utilitarianism/On Liberty

John Stuart Mill (1808-1873) was a torchbearer for liberal thought in the 19th century, including liberty of the individual and freedom of speech, and he championed women's suffrage in Parliament. A remarkable man - he learned Greek aged three and at eight had read Herodotus, Xenophon and Plato - he campaigned all his life for a just society. These two essays are his key works.

The Divine Comedy

Dante's
Divine Comedy is considered to be not only the most important epic poem in Italian literature, but also one of the greatest poems ever written. It consists of 100 cantos, and (after an introductory canto) they are divided into three sections. Each section is 33 cantos in length, and they describe how Dante and a guide travel through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Atlas Shrugged

In a scrap heap within an abandoned factory, the greatest invention in history lies dormant and unused. By what fatal error of judgment has its value gone unrecognized, its brilliant inventor punished rather than rewarded for his efforts? In defense of those greatest of human qualities that have made civilization possible, one man sets out to show what would happen to the world if all the heroes of innovation and industry went on strike.

Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men

Rousseau's Discourse sets out to explore the origin of inequality among people, a journey that sees him trace the evolution of humans from the savage man to the foundations of civil society. With verve and passion, the philosopher argues that the birth of private property was the "beginning of evil". Throughout the book we are led to consider the development of language, reason, self-preservation, benevolence, pity, and law - all through the lens of perhaps the most original thinker of the 18th century.

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Published in 1748,
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is Scottish empiricist philosopher David Hume's distillation of his mature philosophy. Addressing themes including the limits of human understanding, the compatibility of free will with determinism, weaknesses in the foundations of religion, and the appeal of skepticism,
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is Hume's attempt to revise and clarify the ideas of his earlier
A Treatise of Human Nature.

Publisher's Summary

Leviathan is a vigorous defense of a strong central government that was originally published in 1651, just after the English wars of 1642-49. This presentation explores the social and political turmoil during which
Leviathan was written, including an examination of the radical political philosophies spawned by opposition to Stuart monarchy in England. It explains the materialistic foundation of Hobbes' philosophy and how this influenced his theory of man, society, and government. Special attention is paid to Hobbes' theory of the "state of nature", the social contract, and the governmental sovereignty. The right of resistance against unjust laws and the right to liberty of conscience also are discussed.

A comprehensive work, Leviathan discusses many areas of philosophy and religion and is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece of political thought.

For a start, I don't much like the american reading one of the greatest English writers' work, I would have appreciated an Englishman to read it, as only englishmen can actually speak english properly, with correct pronunciations. Not only this, but when there are 'direct quotes' within the audiobook, someone with a silly, fake \"ye olde\" \"English\" (i have English in quotation marks, as again, American's are unable to differentiate between an actual english accent, and what they think one is, which is always wrong.
Away from the actual voices themselves, however, the book simply does not live up to its title. It says it is an unabridged version of leviathan, which lead me to assume that it would be the whole of Hobbes' book read, with no part left out. This is not so, it is some kind of history of the English Civil War (which is only worth mentioning in the understanding of leviathan to get an idea of context). This is just so unnecessary, and so something that i bought in order to help me, has done nothing of the sort.
This did not only NOT entertain me, but it didn't help me get through all the texts on my course (i am dyslexic, and so all the help with reading i can get i take) and in fact if anything it just wasted 2hours that i could have just read some of the book itself.
This is time that i shall never get back, and i cannot even make myself feel better by knowing that i was educated by this audiobook.

This books is fine, but the title is deceptive. It is not a reading of "Leviathan", but a "Cliff Notes" type summary of "Leviathan" with illustrative quotes. It's a decent summary, but I was looking for the actual work. I suppose I should have been alerted by the brief length. Oh well, I'm better prepared now to read the real thing.

17 of 17 people found this review helpful

Kamal

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

07/03/10

Overall

"The best way to read leviathan"

Leviathan is not the easiest book to read, especially with Thomas Hobbes particular use of the English language.
However, with this audio book, the narrators do a good Job of picking up the good bits of the book.
It is be far the best narrated book I have listened to so far. Trailing only the ScrewTape Letter narrated by John Cleese.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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